Toosywoots

I was banded on October 8th. My stomach felt like someone was going over it with a rolling pin a couple of times but it hasn't happened for more than a week--those were probably spasms. I seldom get hunger pangs. I do get the gurgling noisy stomach and I am not hungry. I get a tiny little burp or a feeling like I might wretch (but never do) when I eat too much--like a cup of soft foods instead of the 1/2 c. I didn`t have complications except for a low fever for a couple of days. Gas is always a problem. I am beginning to find out which foods make me gassy. So far I am finding it is the food with splenda. I might be allergic to it. Everyone is different though and I think you will discover whatever it takes for you to get used to your own band. I am feeling much better this week and I think I am progressing along nicely. My husband thinks I am eating too much yet and maybe stretching my pouch but I lost 10 pounds last week. I haven`t had my first fill yet.

Had my surgery on October 8th. I am feeling much better now. Walking normal and longer distances. My incissions are itching like mad so I assume they are healing pretty good with no infections. I am on soft foods at this point like baked potato, eggs, tufu that are added to the creamy soups from last week. I have a lot more energy than 2 months ago. I am getting out and doing a little shopping and traveling. Lost another 10 pounds this week which might be a bit deceptive because the week before I was weighed fully clothed with shoes at my doctor's and this week I was weighed with a night gown. I broke the 300 pound mark and I am Happy! :wink_smile: That makes a total of at least 58 pounds lost since last winter's high.

Had my week after surgery check up with my primary care doc today. His scale said I lost again! He hadn't seen me in a month and I had lost 25 pounds since then. He was beaming ear to ear about it. He checked my 5 incissions and no infection. He was really happy to hear that I haven't had to take diabetes medication since surgery because all I have had to eat is Sugar Free clear liquids and protein shakes. I told him about the pain under my lower left rib cage that doesn't seem to be gas. It prevents me from breathing. He said of coarse you will have pain after a surgery like this and he prescribed me more pain killers.

My pre-op surgery instructions were clear liquids the day before surgery. That would be apple juice, Sugar free popsicles, S.F jello and any non acidic liquid that you can read a newpaper through. I was on a liquid diet for weeks before surgery with the protein shake. The clear liquid day before surgery is different though with no protein shake. After surgery you should be on a clear liquid diet for 1 week. I was told by the dietician that I was allowed to have the protein shake in my diet at 3 days out from surgery. At 8-15 days I get to be on a soft diet of creamy soups, Sugar Free puddings, S.F. fudgesickles, S.F.creamsickles,

I'm back home from the October 7th gastric band surgery. I posted surgery details on another thread named Surgery Day Stories page 12 if you are interested. So far so good. I am sore, dealing with gas, eating the clear liquid diet but do not feel the least bit hungry. If anyone has had a Cesearan or Hysterectomy, it feels like that right now but I have to go take my pain killer that I should have taken 4 hours ago. I had 5 slits that are glued shut. A different surgeon stepped in when my surgeon had an emergency. The staff was very kind and friendly compared to other hospital experiences I have had. I hold a pillow in front of me to cough. I would do it all again and I am beginning my new life.

My surgery took place on October 7th at Harper Hospital in Detroit which is part of Wayne State University where they train in medical fields. I was told to be at the hospital at 11:30 am and had spent the night at a connecting hotel/guest housing. I am a hard pick and the surgery requires a large IV. I was impressed that the student hit the vein the first time because other surgeries at other hospitals took up to 9 tries before getting it right. I also had blood tests pokes too but that wasn't bad either. Once that was over, I didn't care what happened because that is generally the worse thing for me. I was laying there for a long time when another surgeon showed up and told me that my surgeon had a serious emergency and that he couldn't do the surgery. His new partner was the surgeon who was going to do the gastric band surgery instead. They took me to surgery at 4 pm. They had made 5 slots to perform the gastric lap band and most of them were glued shut. The surgeon had taken the time to speak to my husband and gave him a photo of my lap band placment. By 8 pm I was in my room again and I had wretched once on the way because I am supseptible to motion sickness even after multiple shots to try to prevent it. It scared me that I might have ripped the band loose but was assured that it would take more than that. After a few hours I was gotten out of bed and walked to the bathroom. I was on oxygen and had a machine I had to breathe into 10 times an hour and cough to prevent pnuemonia. I was given popsicles, Water, and Jello which I had no problem eating. They put these booties on my feet that inflated every few minutes to stop clots from forming in my legs. I still managed to sleep through it and fell back to sleep after multiple times of blood pressure and temperature readings. The next morning, I was served Breakfast of jello, popsicle, real chicken broth, and water. I couldn't finish the jello. I was doing very well they said and by 11 am I was packing up and getting dressed to go back to my hotel room. We stayed the night and then wrapped myself with the adominal elastic band and a pillow in front where the seat belt was. Took a vicatin and started the 120 mile drive home. The nurse had told me to get out and walk at least every 20 minutes. We stopped at two rest areas on the way home. I took a nap when I came home. Without the pain medicine, I feel like I have had another hysterectomy or Cesearan. I am not hungry but I do have to get rid of gas yet and have not had my first BM yet. I am on my way to starting my new life!

Tomorrow I leave for the long drive for the surgery. Wednesday the 8th I have the lap band surgery done. It will be my birthday tomorrow and I will be on clear liquids. Once I get to the hotel near the hospital I have to take the clean out from the two doses of oral saline laxative. No birthday cake and icecream but the gift I m giving myself by having the lap band the next day will be the best ever I hope. I am running around here packing and trying to think of everything I might need. I am so nervous that my back is cramping and giving me problems right now. I went to see my Mother in the nursing home today and she just wanted to hold my hands because she was so nervous about it. I made arrangements with my son to take care of the dog and cat here at home instead of in the kennel. Taped the instructions on what they require to the door for him. I had wanted my house to be in perfect shape but that's not going to happen in what little time I have left. At least all the laundry is done. It has been so long since I have been able to take a walk around even a small store so I hope my heart will be strong enough to survive the 3-4 hours of surgery. I hope the hospital has the proof from my insurance company saying that I have been approved. I have a lot of worries today. I will be 56 years old.

After I posted I received a call from the service I hired to help me jump through all the insurance loops. I asked her about dropping below the 50 BMI problem. She said that the BC/BS insurance has the weight I was at pre-protein diet and not to be worried. So now I am happy that I have lost so much already. My clothes from last winter that I pulled out for our cool weather are loose!!!

I am getting very nervous now since my surgery is scheduled for October 8. It is quite a drive from here so we are leaving the day before and staying in the hospital's hotel. My biggest concern is that the BC/BS insurance will find a way to back out. I have waited over 10 years for them to approve me. They insisted I needed to be near death. Well I got to that point this past spring because of severe non-alcholic fatty liver. One of the requirements is that I have a BMI over 50. Mine was over 55 when I started out trying to jump through all the insurance hoops in May. So the doctor puts me on this liquid protein diet around 4 weeks ago and I have lost down to just 50.2 BMI when I weighed myself today. I am very scared that I will loose some more weight before surgery being on this protein diet and not qualify for the insurance to pay.

Nazzy, I hired a patient facilitator company I found by googling gastric surgery to help me jump through the hoops that BC/BS PPO has for gastric surgery. I started working with them in May and all the insurance hoops were jumped through two weeks ago. BC/BS should be paying 100% of the medical but not some of the doctor appointments and specialists that I had to see prior to getting approved that they required. They have come a long way in giving in since the first time I tried to have this done about 10 years ago.

I have my Date of October 8th!!! It's the day after my 56th birthday! This will be my best present to myself ever, I hope. BC/BS has approved me and they are paying 100% of the cost. I've been jumping through their hoops since Mother's Day though. I've also been on a liquid protein pre-op diet for 3 weeks and must stay on it until the surgery to shrink my liver.

The way they found out about my liver was a blood test showing high liver counts. I started having high liver counts even when I was skinny about 30 years ago. Then when I took lamisil for a foot problem about 5 years ago, it sent the liver test sky high. Then they tried to do an ultra-sound but I was too heavy to get a good picture they said. So the primary care doctor sent me to a specialist. He told me to loose weight because I probably have a fatty liver or hepitis C and shoved me out the door. Then 2 years later, my primary care doctor sent me to another liver specialist and he said I would have to have a liver biopsy to really see what was going on. The specialist told me some scary stuff about bleeding to death and such plus he said even if they found out there wouldn't be anything they could do. So I didn't have the biopsy done. A year later my primary care doctor asked what ever happened about it and I told him. So he sent me back to the liver specialist to have the biopsy. He didn't do it but another specialist did and I nearly died from a pain killer they gave me. The liver specialist told me the results over the phone--fatty liver with some scarring and told me to loose weight. Then he refused to see me again. So my primary care doctor told me that I need to loose weight in a big hurry and was mad that neither of those specialists referred me to a wieght loss surgeon. So I hired a patient facilitator to get me through the insurance hoops that had refused me weight loss surgery about 8 years ago when I had a 42 BMI and now I am 53 BMI. Now my primary care doctor is in a miff and not happy that I am using him for the surgery referral process and having him send in the letters required. I wonder if has to do with insurance kick-backs or what? I am using a surgeon about 150 miles from here and not part of our city's medical bunch. There was no one around that could do this surgery or gastric bypass. I wasn't about to go to a general surgeon!

My doctor told me that my fatty (non alcholic) liver with scarring with Diabetes will kill me with in a year if I do not loose a bunch of weight quickly. I have investigated Lap Band and Gastric Bypass surgeries. The Gastric bypass effects the liver and scared me a lot. So I was wondering if anyone has experience with the liver and the lap band. I have started the 800 calorie protein diet and am just a couple of weeks from having lap band surgery and they have said this diet shrinks the liver. Please let me know how previous bad liver patients have done on this pre-op diet, surgery, and post-surgery.:smile:

Oh, I forgot to add that I have a BMI of 53. I have lost 12 pounds prior to starting the high protein 800 calorie diet.

No suicidal thoughts but I sure would like to do severe bodily harm to the people with the judgemental looks and nasty remarks I get.

I am glad I am reading this because I am on the pre-op high protein diet and am waiting for surgery to be scheduled. I am worried about my fatty liver(non-alchoholic) with scaring and they said this diet will shrink my liver. I feel slight pain under my rib cage right now. It could be all the gas this diet is creating too. I won't complain so much about my diet if it shrinks the liver so the doc can get at my stomach.